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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28705293">No Safer Place</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DegrassiFanatic/pseuds/DegrassiFanatic'>DegrassiFanatic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Implied/Referenced Suicide</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:21:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>921</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28705293</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DegrassiFanatic/pseuds/DegrassiFanatic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, JJ forgets her sister is dead. She’s aware of how harsh that sounds but, it’s the truth: sometimes JJ forgets Roslyn is buried seven feet under dirt in some cemetery she has learned to forget the name of. </p><p>Although JJ has mourned her sister longer than she’ll have ever known her, there are times where she finds herself dialling up their mother, the words ‘how’s Rosie doing?’ on the tip of her tongue.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>No Safer Place</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>warnings for themes of suicide</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The moment JJ watched a Pennsylvania phone number flash across the display of her office phone, she should have known that this case would not be easy for her; cases in her home state never are. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pennsylvania harboured an abundance of painful memories and all of them are linked to one name: Roslyn Jareau. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sometimes, JJ forgets she’s dead. She’s aware of how harsh that sounds but, it’s the truth: sometimes JJ forgets her sister is buried seven feet under dirt in some cemetery JJ has learned to forget the name of. Although JJ has mourned her sister longer than she’ll have ever known her, there are times where she finds herself dialling up their mother, the words ‘how’s Rosie doing?’ on the tip of her tongue. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then, it feels like someone has dunked her head in a vat of ice cold water and she remembers. The images of Roslyn bleeding out in her bedroom, surrounded by their father’s razor and the blades of her pencil sharpeners, come back no matter how hard she tries to forget. JJ remembers that Roslyn never got to turn eighteen, or nineteen; forever immortalized in death at the tender age of seventeen. She remembers that Roslyn never got to meet her nephew nor her future sister-in-law. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An arm brushing against hers pulls JJ out of her memories. Turning her head, JJ finds Emily nodding her head towards the bullpen full of police officers ready to hear the profile of their unsub. Rolling her shoulders back, JJ straightens herself out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Our unsub is a female in her late twenties to early thirties.” Hotch begins to explain, “She began in Vermont, which suggests she lives there, and as you can see, she’s moving downwards, so once she’s finished her, she’ll move on to Maryland.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bitterly, JJ can’t help but wish that they had caught wind of the unsub when she was still in Vermont or even New York; that way they could have skipped this little visit to her home state. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s what we would categorize as an Angel of Death. She’s killing the remaining children of families who have lost a child to suicide.” Hotch continues on. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The word suicide has always made her flinch. It always seemed like such a clinical word to describe such a tragedy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It also doesn’t help that she had to learn the meaning of the word when she was eleven years old. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Perhaps, our unsub thinks if she kills the remaining sibling, she’ll end their suffering.” Reid adds on, “There’s a big chance her own sibling took their own life.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>JJ doesn’t know why but Reid’s last words hit her hard in the pit of her stomach. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s a stinging sensation near the corners of her eyes, and JJ attempts to blink the onslaught of tears away as discreetly as possible. The fluorescent lights of the bullpen feel as though they are piercing through her corneas. The sounds of officers clicking their pens and mechanical pencils become too much for her ears to handle, all of it overpowering the gentle droll of Rossi’s continued explanations. Her own breath even seems far too loud. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not knowing what else to do, she mutters an excuse and rushes out of the room as nonchalantly as she can. Once she’s out of sight, JJ knocks her head back against an empty space on the wall and closes her eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“JJ?” she hears a quiet voice call out, followed by the clicking of block heels against linoleum flooring. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I just had to—” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright if you need to sit this one out.” Emily gently reminds her, just like she did when they first got onto the jet. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her voice sounds much closer than before. JJ opens her eyes to find Emily standing in front of her, her face full of open worry. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no,” JJ says, shaking her head, “I can do this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>JJ knows she should say no but, it’s not the truth. She does want to talk about it. She wants to air everything out somewhere safe and she knows that she’s always safe with Emily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A part of her thinks she should say no; that she isn’t worth Emily’s time, not when there is a killer on the loose. Another part of her, a bigger part of her, wants to talk about it, however. JJ wants to air everything out somewhere safe, and she knows that there is no place safer for her than with Emily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s just—” she starts before cutting herself off with a sharp inhale, “Those poor people already lost one kid and those kids already lost a sibling and now they— Losing a someone to suicide ruins you and nothing is the same afterwards, no matter how much time passes. And now some of these people lost another child to murder on top of that….</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not fair, Em.” JJ chokes out, “None of this is fair.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Without hesitation, Emily reaches forward to gather JJ into her arms and pulls her against her neck, letting the sobs that crawl out of JJ’s throat be muffled against her hair. Her knees begin to fail her and by now Emily is holding up the entirety of JJ’s weight. Tears and snot smear against her shoulder and if JJ were with anyone else, she would feel embarrassed by now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But, she’s not. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’s with Emily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I got you.” she murmurs as she caresses a hand down JJ’s hair, “I got you.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hey yall its a me a mario, find me at degrassi-fanatic on tumblr.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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